When Eve Gordon stepped on stage last month in Canada, they couldn’t have been happier. After spending the past two years recovering from intense burnout. The Dust Palace co-founder was thrilled to be back, sharing the craft of circus with the world. She was also receiving rave reviews in the process.
The fire that took it all
But by the end of the performance, everything changed. Eve learned that a warehouse housing a decade’s worth of equipment and archives from their creative life had burned to the ground.
“It’s a very weird experience,” Eve, 43, says, speaking to the Weekly from Vancouver.
“The shows in Canada have been going so well, and it’s very fun and uplifting. At the same time, I’m holding this devastating news and trying to figure out how to move forward.”
In the early hours of June 8, a fire tore through the storage yard in Auckland. Where The Dust Palace kept its equipment, sets, costumes and props accumulated over the past decade. It took nearly 50 firefighters to bring the blaze under control. By the time it was extinguished, everything was gone.
When Eve, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, and the cast came off stage, they were greeted by their teary-eyed producer.
Still grappling with the sudden loss of their sister’s partner last year, Eve immediately assumed the worst. For a brief moment, hearing it was a fire came as a relief, before the crushing reality of what had been lost set in.
What can’t be replaced
“There was the initial feeling of relief that no one was dead,” the Almighty Johnsons star reflects.
“But then came the realisation of the extent of what we’re not going to be able to replace. All that work, all those beautiful memories that everybody has with these items. “The more I’ve been talking to people about it, the more I realise that these taonga [treasures] have been instrumental to many people’s artistic development and personal growth.”
One of the hardest losses for Eve was years of archival footage that had not yet been digitised.
“We’ve lost the videos of all our shows between 2009 and 2018. That was a real kicker to me. I thought, ‘What did I even do that decade for then?’”
After suffering severe burnout in 2023, Eve made the decision to prioritise art. Which meant taking a step back from the day-to-day management of the business. With two weeks left in the tour, Eve admits being on the other side of the world while the company navigates this loss has been the ultimate test of that promise.
From ashes to action
“My gut instinct was that I need to be at home, looking after the people who feel sad about what we’ve lost and managing how we deal with the repercussions. This is an intense challenge for me to let other people deal with what is happening at home.”
It’s straight into rehearsals when Eve returns from Canada for the return season of Te Tangi ā te Tūı¯, created in collaboration with Te Pou Theatre. Thanks to the support of the local arts community, who have stepped forward with offers of equipment and stages, the tour will begin in August as planned.
After dedicating so much time to community outreach programmes. Eve says it has been humbling to see the work has made an impact.
“I feel like so much of my career in the arts has been treading water, trying to get things done in a way that supports the community,” they explain.
“It takes up so much time, you don’t really have a chance to look up. It takes something like this to make you realise there are so many wonderful people that our work and our community have touched
or inspired in some way.”
Though Eve and The Dust Palace will feel the effects of this loss for a long time, it has only deepened the passion for the work ahead.
“This has made us more determined in our work in collaboration with Te Pou and in developing circus within te ao Māori,” insists Eve. “It has made us focus on who we can help.”
To donate to The Dust Palace Trust’s recovery, visit givealittle.co.nz/cause/fire-destruction-help-the-dust-palace-rise. Te Tangi a Te Tu¯ı¯ runs from August 6-23 across the North Island. For tickets, see thedustpalace.co.nz/whats-on
